thinking about grace
merry christmas!
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living with less
The Iowa State University Extension is offering a workshop in our area entitled “Living with Less,” giving folks advice on coping with the current economic downturn.
I think we needed workshops about ten years ago on “Living with More!” Perhaps if we had, if we had better learned how to use the good times to benefit our communities at large instead of “everybody for him/herself” … we might not be in the situation we are now.
amen!
Dr. Joseph Lowery's benediction for the inauguration of Barack Obama
Click on the link above to hear again this powerful and inspiring prayer …
not the end of the world
What Manny Ramirez said after the Red Sox fell behind to the Cleveland Indians three games to one:
We’re just going to go have fun and play the game. That’s it. If we go play hard and the thing doesn’t come like it’s supposed to come, we’ll move on. We’ll come next year. Why should we panic? We’ve got a great team. If it doesn’t happen, good. We’ll come next year and try to do it again.
We’re confident every day. It doesn’t matter how things go for you. We’re not going to give up. We’re just going to go and play the game, like I’ve said, and move on. If it doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like the end of the world or something.
What a refreshing attitude! Here’s an elite athlete who remembers it’s a game, a player who goes out everyday and does his best, but remembers it’s supposed to be fun. Instead of criticizing Manny for “not taking it seriously,” we should be thanking him for reminding us as fans and as human beings to keep things in proper perspective.
P.S. Manny went out Thursday night, played hard, had fun … and helped the Red Sox beat the Indians in game five 7-1.
just bullies
Our nation’s psyche is shaped by two defining archetypes: the cowboy and the preacher; the macho hero and the principled idealist; the adventurer and the reformer; the Louisiana Purchase and the Bill of Rights; Christopher Columbus and Thomas Jefferson; John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart; Douglas MacArthur and Martin Luther King.
The face we present to the rest of the world is spawned of the delicate balance between these two personae, these two values. We swagger … and we stand on principle. We fight for freedom … and we defend human rights. We are the biggest … and we are the best. We overcome all enemies … and we uphold the rule of law.
Much of our internal political debate can be framed in terms of these two defining ideas. When kept in balance, we manage to win with dignity, to earn respect even as we impose our will, to forge new friendships instead of creating new enemies.
But when the one American vision is divorced from the other, when the rule of law is set aside “out of necessity” in order to “win,” then we are seen as bullies. And that is indeed what we are … just bullies.